Residents Shocked As Fbi Slaps Cuffs On Popular Mayor

WATERBURY — C Mayor Joseph J. Santopietro began his day like any other.

He arrived at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Highland Avenue for the 8 a.m. Mass.

"He seemed just as normal as he does every morning," said Antoinette Berardi, parish secretary. Berardi said the mayor has been attending the 8 a.m. Mass regularly for the past four or five months.

The Mass lasted until 8:25 a.m. Then Santopietro headed for D'Amelio's Deli & Grinder Shoppe two blocks away, where he usually picks up a morning paper and a cup of coffee.

But that was where his daily routine ended.

Paula Venditti, 38, who was inside the deli, said she could see Santopietro reach for a newspaper on the stand under the deli's green and white awning. Four men then approached him from behind and moved to handcuff him, she said. "They went over to him and tried to cuff him. I heard someone say `FBI,' but that was it," Venditti said. Santopietro said his instincts then took over: He said he ran from the agents.

Word of the arrest spread quickly.

Whether it was part of the loud banter in city cafes, bars and stores or the hushed conversations in city offices on Grand Street, Santopietro's arrest was the talk of the day as residents sought more details and politicians debated the fallout from the indictments.

"I think he has a nerve running for mayor," said Esterina Guerrera, 37, who was waiting for a ride on Grand Street.

But Joseph Petta, 25, standing outside The Bagel Exchange on Center Street, said, "I feel sorry about the guy. I hope he still wins." All seemed shocked about the way Santopietro was arrested.

"They just scooped him up from the street. The way they did it seemed uncouth and barbaric. It's not like he's going to leave the country," said city native Margo Johnson, 40, as she shopped at a clothing store on Bank Street.

Reactions varied among those familiar with the city's politics.

Santopietro's Democratic opponent in the mayoral election,

former Mayor Edward D. Bergin Jr., said he would not make an issue out of the indictments and promised to focus on the issues facing the city. Bergin was acquitted in April of charges of taking a bribe from a Waterbury towing company.

Asked whether he thinks Santopietro should step down, Bergin said, "That's a judgment he has to make." Alderman John Sarlo, Democratic minority leader, said that the mayor and two indicted aldermen should resign immediately and that John M. Donahue, a Democratic alderman, should assume the mayor's role until the November election.

"The confidence in our ability has been shaken almost to the breaking point," Sarlo said. "These are in essence albatrosses. We have to remove the albatrosses. We're swimming right now in a sea of financial red." Sherman D. London, retired editorial director of the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper, said the indictments and arrests will have a dramatic effect on the city's Republicans.

"I think it's going to be devastating to the Republican Party because it's not merely a question of the mayor being indicted," London said. "But there's a whole group of the top leaders in the Republican Party who have either been indicted or who are involved in this situation." Gary J. Reardon, a Democratic city alderman who narrowly lost to Bergin in a primary, said the indictments "put a very dark cloud over the city." "I think he has to look at whether or not he can continue governing the city of Waterbury," Reardon said. "Obviously, I have serious concerns as to whether or not he can." Salvador Vazquez, a Republican alderman for about a year, defended Santopietro, whom he described as "one of the best mayors we've ever had." "Personally, I don't believe that's going to have much effect in the upcoming election," Vazquez said, referring to the indictments and arrests. "I believe until he's proven guilty, people in the city of Waterbury will continue to respond in the same manner they have responded in the last six years." Santopietro is completing his third two-year term as mayor. Nicholas Albini, a Democratic alderman, said he hopes the charges are false and the officials are proved innocent. Albini said he can work with the indicted aldermen.